The phone rang last night and I never get it because it's never for me. There are advantages to that because then Sydney has to deal with all the telemarketers... although, I thought we were on the "national no call list"... Anyway... When a telemarketer calls I am always in the background looking at Sydney with a smirk quietly saying, "Ha, Ha" just loud enough for her to hear. The only problem is that every now and then Sydney says, "Let me have you talk to my husband." And then I am stuck. Well, last night the phone rang and after a few moments I hear Sydney in the other room saying, “...during the week wouldn't work.” ... I am thinking, “Ha, Ha.” And then it happens... those dreaded words: “Let me have you talk to my husband.” And I am thinking, “Great. Now I have to talk to this freakin’ loser...”
I give her the one eyebrow raised look indicating that I am not happy with her inability to get rid of this telemarketer.
“Hello?”
As I began speaking with the woman on the phone, my defenses immediately came down because of her beautiful, innocent, sweet sounding charm. It was like the voice of the Sirens in the Odyssey and I was mesmerized by her gentle voice.
She proceeded to tell me that, as a part of a promotion that they are having that they that they would like to invite us up to Breezy Point Resort for a complimentary 3 day 2 night stay at Breezy Point Resort. I am skeptical. In this day and age of email scams and tricky telemarketers, I was very cautious. Our conversation went a little like this:
Ben: “Free Weekend? What’s the catch?”
Beautiful, innocent, sweet sounding promotional rep: “There is no catch.”
Ben: “What do you mean there is no catch? There’s always a catch. I don’t have to sign up for a credit card?”
Beautiful, innocent, sweet sounding promotional rep: “Nope. No credit card sign- up.”
Ben: “We don’t have to buy siding for our house?”
Beautiful, innocent, sweet sounding promotional rep: “Nope. You don’t have to buy siding for your house.”
Ben: “I don’t have to agree to sign up for a free one month trial of road side service brought to me by triple AAA and Sears which I can cancel at anytime during the first month if I do not want to continue with this service?”
Beautiful, innocent, sweet sounding promotional rep: *Laughter* “Nope. I don’t even know what you just said... but you don’t have to sign up for anything.”
Ben: “Why us?”
Beautiful, innocent, sweet sounding promotional rep: “We are inviting people from the Metro area to come up and enjoy our resort for a few days so we can increase business.”
So... after going through this for a bit, I said...
Ben: “Sure, we would love to come. Is there a specific date we need to come, or can we pick any date?” (Thinking that it was a “we can only come on a Monday thru Tuesday kind of deal.”)
Beautiful, innocent, sweet sounding promotional rep: “You can come at anytime... however, if you come this weekend there are some additional promotional items we will give to you.”
Ben: “Really, like what?”
Beautiful, innocent, sweet sounding promotional rep: “Well, some people are choosing round trip plane tickets... some are choosing free dinner and golf at our resort.”
Ben: “Okay, we will come this weekend.”
Beautiful, innocent, sweet sounding promotional rep: “Perfect. We will book you for Friday and Saturday night... we will need your credit card number for confirmation; however, we will not charge the card.”
*Red flags start waving all over the place.*
Ben: “You want my credit card number? This bothers me a bit... This sounds too much like a scam. How do I know that I am not getting scammed here and that you are going to use my credit card to stay at Breezy Point Resort yourself and proceed to rack up charges and max out my card.”
Beautiful, innocent, sweet sounding promotional rep: *Laughing* “Mr. ‘W’ ... I totally understand your concern and if I were in your shoes I would be concerned as well. Here is my number, you can call me back to ensure that this is not a scam. My name is Mary.”
Ben: “Okay. We will call you back.”
*Hang up.*
Ben: “Sydney, jump online and get me the number for the front desk at Breezy Point Resort.”
I called Breezy Point Resort and the receptionist answers: “It’s a beautiful day at Breezy Point Resort, how may I help you.”
Ben: “Hello. I am calling because I just received a call from a person stating that they were going to give me a free 3 day, 2 night stay at your resort. Is this for real or am I getting scammed.
Breezy Point Resort Receptionist: “Um... I don’t really know... was she calling you from Tour Promotions?”
Ben: “Good question. I have no idea.”
Breezy Point Resort Receptionist: “Well, let me transfer you to that number and you can check it out.”
Ben: “Sounds great.”
*ringing*
Beautiful, innocent, sweet sounding promotional rep: “Hello?”
Ben: “Mary, hi... this is Ben. I just spoke with you... we went through the front desk to ensure this wasn’t a scam... we would love to come... here is our credit card information.”
Beautiful, innocent, sweet sounding promotional rep: “Sounds great! So, would you like the plane tickets or dinner and golf?”
Ben: “Where are the tickets to?”
Beautiful, innocent, sweet sounding promotional rep: “If you take the tickets, they are 2 round trip tickets including accommodations to: Montego Bay Jamaica, Las Vegas Nevada, Cancun Mexico or a vacation to Valley fair (amusement park) for four people.”
Ben: “Sydney, we get the following.... which do you want?”
Sydney: “JAMAICA! Let’s go there.”
Ben: “We will take the trip to Jamaica.”
Beautiful, innocent, sweet sounding promotional rep: “Sounds great. You will get those tickets when you come... you have a year to use them.”
Ben: “Sounds great! We will see you this weekend.”
Beautiful, innocent, sweet sounding promotional rep: “We look forward to meeting you... see you this weekend.”
Few more details... and then the phone conversation ends.
Ben: “Can you believe that we just got two free vacations for nothing?”
Sydney: “That’s crazy.”
Ben: “We need to plan our trip when Stephanie is there so we can visit her when she is in Jamaica.”
We are going to JAMAICA! How cool is that?? Stephanie, can we come visit you? How far is Montego Bay from where you will be?
We will keep you posted to let you know if this is to good to be true. I am still a little skeptical.
For the second year in a row... my folks have rented a cabin in Alexandria Minnesota and so our families are getting together for the week... fireworks will be shot off, and burgers will be cooked, chips will be eaten, fish will be caught, skis will be used, water fights will be had, four wheelers will be ridden, aloe will be applied, movies will be watched, snacks will be eaten, snoring will be heard... in short, fun will be had.
This is the "Everyday, ordinary, 'Hey everybody, I'm Jes!'" face. I love this face... Pleasant smile, confident, and loving life. The face of a friend who would welcome you whenever you see her.
The Camper
When it was raining...
Believe it or not, we were standing on the side of a ditch casting into it from the road. The place we fished was Devil's Lake, ND. This lake continues to grow and it is consuming more and more farm land... so roads just disappear into the lake.... it's crazy that you can stand on the road and cast into the ditch and catch 4 & 5 pound Northern and Walleye. Anyway, good times! This is Jake and Grandpa after Jake landed this one. Jake was so pumped. I don't know who was more proud... Jake or Myself.